In the past, a wide variety of electrical wire connectors have been provided for connecting to wire ends. In a typical connector, the end of the wire is stripped of insulation and the bare wire is inserted into a connector where it can be soldered or clamped or otherwise attached to the connector. It is also common to tin the wire ends by coating the wire end with solder and a wide variety of connectors have been provided which removably hold the wire to the connector.
Typical connectors are seen in audio systems, such as hi-fi speakers, in which a wire end is stripped of the insulation and is inserted in an opening and a threaded nut is threaded down onto the wire. The nut can be loosened for removing the wire. Other audio speakers include spring clamps which allow a wire end to be stripped of insulation and inserted into an opening while lifting the spring connector clamp and then releasing the spring connector clamp onto the wire. Other commonly used connectors allow a stripped wire end to be inserted into a connector or into both ends of a connector and then clamped with pliers to collapse a conductive sleeve onto the wire. This type of connector is made of a malleable metal such that collapsing the connector onto the stripped wire end provides the necessary electrical contact. The environment in which the connector is used will determine if the exterior of the connector will need to be insulated.
In contrast to these various types of wire connectors, the present invention deals with a wire connector that does not require the insulation to be stripped and also provides, in some embodiments, for the insertion of the insulated wire end in a manner to lock the wire end in place inside the bore of a wire connector.
Prior wire connectors can be seen in the following U.S. patents. The Chang U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,333 for a wire connector having two concentric sockets adapted to be assembled one into the other and in which the inner socket has a conductive needle mounted therein for sliding a wire end into each end of the connector and which also uses a spike pressed in two holes in the sleeves to penetrate the coating of the wire ends.
In the Danner U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,320, a dangler cathode cable assembly is connected to a ball-like cathode member by stripping the end portion of the cable and inserting the end portion into a sleeve which is pressed into an undersized tapered socket that has a pointed pin therein.
In the Friedhelm U.S. Pat. No. 4,786,760, a cable connector for a piezoelectric cable has an insulated cable end which is inserted into a sleeve.
In the Berman U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,233, an electrical cable to the connector is provided for connecting one or more insulated electrical cords or cables together. The insulated cable ends can be inserted into the receptacles on either end and onto a prong of electrically conductive material so that the prong is an electrical contact with the wire of an insulated cord end. A container of adhesive material on the end of the receptacle is released from the container to create a physical bond between the cord and the connector to hold the cord within the connector.
In my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,201, an electrical connector is coupled to an insulated electrical conductor without striping the end of the insulated conductor. The insulated wire is held with a spring clamp which allows the wire to be released.
U.S. patents directed to other structural arrangements for electrical connectors are exemplified, for example, by the Homolka U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,946, directed to a plug connector for a high voltage coaxial cable which uses a plug in contact for the connection with the central conductor. In the Komada U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,240, a method of connecting a coaxial cable to an electrical connector is provided which drives a pin shaped positive terminal into the center conductor. The Gerhard U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,507 is for an electrical connector for semi-solid conductors; the Caulkins U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,503 is a cable splice assembly for multiconductor cables; and the W. C. Gourley et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,883 is for a high voltage wire coupling having a pair of prongs for coupling to the center conductor of insulated wires.
The present invention utilizes an electrical connector for coupling to an insulated electrical coaxial cable end wherein the coaxial cable is inserted into a bore in the connector housing so as to drive a prong located therein into the cable end. The cable is then releasably clamped through the insulation of the cable with conductive clamps which extend into the conductive sheath to thereby form a coupling to the center conductor and separately to the conductive sheaf.